Jewellery | Cast a spell

Beyond many security screens and many PIN pads, high up above the Cartier boutique in Rue de la Paix in Paris, is Cartier jewellery workshop, where a team of 60 highly skilled craftsmen and women create some of the world’s most exquisite pieces.

A tour of the workshop with director Xavier Gargat reveals how jewellery-making techniques have changed over the centuries and what kinds of extremely specialised skill sets are required to create each precious object.

“We have a team of 60 people, including 40 jewellers and that’s our unique feature," says Gargat through an interpreter. “For repetitive work, most companies have teams of 200, 300 people. But what we do here is true craftsmanship."

There are four setters, who are in charge of putting into place those spectacular, often huge, centre stones characteristic of Cartier creations. “With stones that expensive, that valuable, there’s a risk of breakage," Gargat says. “We need to use people who really know what they’re doing!"

The shining and polishing of the metal is done mostly by women. The French term for it is polisseuse. The world of jewellery has predominantly been male (jewellers were male, setters were male, metalworkers were male), but polishing was thought to be more suited to women. Now, however, the ratios are changing.

“Jewellery used to be a male profession, simply because forging the metal used to require a lot of physical strength," Gargat says.“But over the past 20 years, techniques have changed and now jewellers prefer to sculpt blocks of wax."

That means females are more involved in more areas, and jewellery schools are seeing an 80-20 ratio of female to male students. Gargat, who started in the industry when he was 16, says there is a high dropout rate with boys too, so the proportion of women working in the industry will only grow.

Jewellery design may be a subjective matter but there are aesthetic rules and criteria, as well as the legacy and heritage of the brand to consider not only in designing a brand new piece but also in recreating an favoured design.

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Cartier’s panther bracelet for example has been worn and adored for more than 100 years. But the spots on the panther aren’t just any old spots done any old way. They have to be set in a specific manner and are made of onyx or sapphire.

“If we had a jeweller who wanted to make the spots in his own specific way, it simply would not work because it would not comply with Cartier’s aesthetic criteria," Gargat explains.

“Hence the importance of teamwork. It’s not as though I gave the panther drawing to a designer and said, ‘OK, I’ll see you in a couple of years.’ No, we all work together throughout the process. We synergise – the designer, the jeweller, the stones – to materialise the Cartier spirit."

When it comes to bespoke or one-off creations, it is le president of the company who makes the ultimate decision as to whether hundreds of hours are to be invested in any particular piece. “Every single drawing and design has to be validated and vetted by the chairman," Gargat says.

Fair enough, too. These aren’t small-change purchases. In 2010, the Cartier diamond panther bracelet once owned by the Duchess of Windsor was sold by Sotheby’s for a world record price of £4.5 million ($7 million).

So it is every Cartier jeweller’s responsibility to take a step back and remove themselves from any personal taste, to be open-minded and allow their skills and expertise to serve the Cartier tradition.

“And that’s the toughest thing to do," Gargat says, “particularly for young jewellers."

The workshop is huge, set over several floors and divided into specific process areas. People dress in white coats and sit at workstations, many with magnifying lenses, concentrating on their tasks. They’re happy to show an intruder what they’re working on and are proud and delighted at my oohs and aahs.

Cartier also has three casting professionals. Nowadays, creating a prototype mould is an industrial trade. Moulds include relatively large-scale pieces for substantial necklaces or bracelets but also tiny pieces such as hinges or earring clips. The master casters also work on site at the workshop.

In the first step of mould creation, a block of wax is sculpted into the desired shape. Then the wax sculpture is drowned in plaster, which is baked. The heat in the baking process causes the wax to melt away, leaving an empty space inside the plaster, which is where the casters pour their molten platinum or gold. When the metal is dry, the plaster is broken and the piece is ready for the stone setters and polishers. “The whole process can take as much as 400 hours of work," Gargat says.

“And, if the process fails, you have to start from scratch. Can you imagine wasting 400 hours? It is, therefore, extremely important to have a caster on site who will optimise the aesthetic and technical outcome, who will care more about that than about speed or output."

Unlike the situation at other jewellery houses, Cartier’s processes are not becoming industrialised. “We do it the other way around," he says. “We try to imbue an industrial trade with a spirit of craftsmanship.

“Being a jeweller doesn’t boil down to just manual skills. They are important – but a jeweller is on a quest for solutions."